DesForM seeks to present current research into the nature, character and behaviour of emerging new typologies of co-designed, content rich, connected and intelligent objects within adaptive systems. It aims to bring together researchers in the many related fields of design to assess the outcomes of this research and begin to identify issues and territories for future investigation and exploration.

Our original working premise for this research was that forms, either concrete or abstract, always carry or mediate meanings. It is the responsibility of designers to make good use of these meanings, for example, to make products beautiful, to stress the importance of certain values, or to improve a product’s ease of use. Further, it should promote or negotiate enriched experiences between people (communities) and people, people and objects, and in time between objects (systems of objects) and objects. Design uses its own languages for this purpose, just as poets, painters, journalists, sculptures, filmmakers and other artists do. The role of multi-sensory perception should also be explored as a multiple channel to convey meaning.

We believe that our current conceptions of objects, things and artefacts need to be shattered once and for all so that we can be truly creative in how we contribute to the conceiving of the NEW THINGS.

DeSForM does this by inviting creative people from very different practicing contexts and representing somewhat different aspects of the design disciplinary spectrum. If we succeed in accumulating the views and the abilities each brings in the conceiving of ideas and things, then surely the results would be very, very different, and might even be important in driving the practice and discipline of Design forward in some way.

DeSForM 2015

We aim to discuss possibilities, limits and constraints of designing intriguing experiences with technology-affected artefacts (either tangible, virtual, or intangible), and to explore the balance between aesthetics, ethics, meaning and emotions in design.